Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom

As I've mentioned elsewhere, this music produced a profound spiritual experience wherein I, a proud atheist, felt an overwhelming connection to the One, something beyond space and time, in a perpetual state of being and transformation. Will this do that for you? I don't know. But I think it's worth a try. "You don't need to believe in God to believe in transcendence," Tim Quirk once said, and I've taken that to heart, even as what I described above transcended the heart.

On a more pragmatic level, you don't need the above experience to plug into this. If you care that Miller and her bassist Todd Sickafoose logged time as Ani DiFranco's rhythm section, I'll mention that, but if you hate "chicks with guitars" the way one friend of mine does, I hope you won't bear a grudge. Miller's trio (sometimes quartet) delivers a constantly shifting sound, three (sometimes four) parts not competing for your attention, exactly, but proceeding confidently, trusting that you'll listen exactly when your head gets right. I can't think of much other current music this rich in multilayers. Living testimony to the power of the collective. If it gets you to the One on top of on the one, welcome the bonus.